Im so glad the calls for unity have prevailed

[JCanete]

55. I think in the spirit of unity, the thing we might strive for, is not to avoid airing our grievances

It is totally fair to try to make a case that the leftwing holdouts cost us this election, or that their strategy is a mistake, or that they entirely misinterpret the problem. It is also totally okay to make the case that the democratic party and its leaders have made huge missteps, and have adopted a strategy for decades now that has resulted in us losing 1000 seats over that time. Its okay to criticize policies of Sanders and policies of Clinton, and to challenge their rhetoric and speculate on its effects.

As silly as I think the argument is, it is okay to say Sanders is trying to offer ponies or unicorns, and is letting perfect be the enemy of the good.

As silly as other people think it is, its okay to point out how loud money speaks, no matter what party it is buying a mouthpiece from, so long as that allegation is not in the spirit of actually going the extra mile and assuming the worst of the figures who happen to benefit from that kind of funding. After all, there are strategic aspects that they have no choice but to consider, and they are working within their sense of that framework. Also, there's the fact that some simply benefit from having an ideology that is more appreciated by industries than other ideologies. They aren't shills. They just benefit disproportionally by their less threatening(to said industries) convictions.

This is all in the realm of hashing out philosophical and strategic disagreements. None of it is in the realm of ascribing motivations. None of that is taking the liberty of assuming that our would-be allies are bought and paid for, or conversely, that they are selfish evildoers who either advocated abstaining or voting third party for no reason except that they are petty people who don't give a shit about the suffering of others.

None of that is getting up in arms when somebody remains in the political sphere because that person is still a hero to people, or is still a voice that represents many of us on the left, whether that be Clinton and the ridiculous calls for her to go the fuck away, or Sanders and the equally absurd flip-outs over him being invited on the unity tour, or being tapped to defend the ACA in a debate, or to speak at a women's conference.

All of that is in the service of disunity. That's what we should be striving to avoid on both sides of this SAME SIDE. Granted, there are actually philosophical areas where we part company. So of course we are going to have strong disagreements and there will be a struggle for the heart of the democratic party over core ideals. That's how a party evolves over time. It's inevitable and not a bad thing, so long as it isn't hateful and doesn't devolve into character assassination. I know sometimes that's a blurry line, but I think that we should be striving individually to avoid stepping into that fuzzy area.

As to not casting aspersions about Trump voters, that's important because first, demonizing anybody gets in the way of actually getting into their heads and understanding what is motivating their decisions, which is a tactically unsound thing to do, and we can expect to prescribe the wrong medicine to that condition as a result. Second, you aren't going to be able to penetrate their bubbles if you make sure they know that life outside of them is toxic for them. And their bubbles are huge. This isn't a bullyable minority. These are bubbles generated en-masse by our media and the money behind it, because these dis-informed people are useful. They don't need to change to get acceptance. They have plenty of it in their bubbles. What they need is to be confronted over and over with cognitive dissonance. Calling them deplorables doesn't generate that...it only reinforces their world-view about us.

There's no question, these voters are a problem. But anybody trying to defend the current world-view of Trump voters is probably not coming from the left. Trying to understand why they see the world they see, and the underlying misconceptions that feed their fears and hatred is not agreeing that the reality they see is accurate. It's just accepting that they are trying to be good people in their own heads, based on that skewed reality. If that's the challenge...to change that skewed reality...then we should be using the right tools.

Please try not to confuse the media's bungling(and there is no mainstream personality in the news who is among the far left, you know this) with people on the left when it comes to the message of what we should learn from Trump voters. Their own gleeful mischaracterization of the point...that we ignored the world-view(rather than the struggles) of white rural voters, is a convenient lie(although I suspect its as likely that this is often just a lazy misunderstanding by media personalities who just aren't that deep) that feeds into all of the things that divide us in the bottom 99%. That sewing of division, is of course good for ratings, and keeps the heat off the people who the heat is never allowed to singe.